With or without further appearances this is a big coup
for ROH. El Patron himself stated a few weeks prior to the announcement that he
wanted to work for multiple US-based promotions with a television presence, naming
Lucha Underground and TNA. It made sense that those companies would go for such
a deal. Lucha Underground is based around the lucha style that Patron is
familiar with and TNA is a company with a noted predilection for former WWE
wrestlers. That ROH were the ones to procure Alberto’s services says a lot
about the state of TNA, and ROH’s willingness to open the chequebook for the
right name.
I’m interested in the logistics of Alberto’s new deals.
While I can imagine Lucha Underground and ROH would be willing to cooperate on
their use of El Patron it seems unlikely they’d be comfortable with him appearing
for both at the same time. My guess is that Alberto will flit between the two
throughout the year, doing a stint of a few months before leaving for the other
league.
But for now all that’s confirmed is his deal with Ring of
Honor. There’s a good chance he could bring some new fans in with him thanks to
years of exposure in WWE (a number of which were spent at the top of the card) and
I’m sure that’s a factor in why ROH have signed him. But that’s not all they’ll
have signed him for. ROH still prides itself on being a company where wrestling
ability comes first. And Alberto has ability.
 |
| El Patron pointing. Classic stuff. |
El Patron versus pretty much anyone on the ROH roster
could be good but there are a handful of guys I’m particularly interested in seeing
him face. I imagine AJ Styles would top most lists, a pairing many would
probably label a “dream match.” They could have a cracking match, particularly
if they took the cross armbreaker versus Calf Killer route.
He could have a solid match with Roderick Strong too.
They’re not entirely dissimilar in terms of character. One may be a Mexican
aristocrat and the other a frat boy, but they both have a degree of arrogance
to them that could blend nicely.
El Patron versus Michael Elgin could have a great
climactic exchange of signature moves. It's a strength of Big Maggle's. The
combination of Alberto’s new moves and a few of his WWE ones (which could be
deployed in select longer matches) should give him quite an arsenal to draw on.
It would be nice to see a babyface Alberto against stocky heel Elgin too. I
think it would be an interesting dynamic.
Personally the match I’d most like to see is El Patron versus
Kyle O'Reilly. As Del Rio he worked as much of an MMA inspired style as was
realistically possible. I expect he'll go further with it now he's working
elsewhere. It's something O'Reilly already does, and does well. The two could do
a really good strong style submission match.
Then there are guys like ACH, Matt Sydal, Bobby Fish, Jay Lethal and Adam
Cole. All of them could have a good match with Alberto. As could ROH champion
Jay Briscoe. In fact I’d go as far as to say that ROH should strongly consider
El Patron v Briscoe for the main event of their anniversary show. It’s easy to
imagine Briscoe interrupting El Patron’s debut promo to say he wants to be challenged
by the best before offering the newcomer a March 1 title shot.
Whatever Ring of Honor end up going with it’s good to see
them get a signing of this level. They put on a good product and deserve
someone with that extra bit of star power. In TNA he’d have been ruined within
months. In ROH he can help attract new eyes and wrestle matches suited to his
style. Works for me.
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